Robin slept until mid-afternoon and felt more like himself when he woke. Marion also napped, because she’d sat up through the night watching him.
She was still snoring gently in her cubicle when Robin stirred, so Matt took Robin up to the roof and showed him how to use the showers. Privacy was a wind-buffeted tarp attached to scaffold poles and the shower head was a soup can spiked with holes. It wouldn’t be fun in winter, but Robin loved it when he pushed the button and a blast of hot water soothed all his aches.
He had half of Sherwood Forest stuck to his skin and was amazed by the streams of grit coming out of his hair and gravy-coloured run-off swirling around the shower tray.
Back down in the Maid family den, Marion’s biological mum, Indio, helped Robin put antiseptic cream and new dressings on his wounds, while her dreadlocked partner, Karma, cooked up a huge pot of veggie Bolognese.
Middle brother Otto got told to wake Marion for dinner. The seven-year-old’s technique involved slapping her cheek with a bendy ruler, and Marion didn’t look impressed as she stumbled out of her sleeping cubicle.
‘My vengeance shall be merciless!’ Marion roared after Otto, who squealed and took cover behind Karma.
The two adults and five kids settled around a lurid-green dining table with bench seats. It had been unbolted from the kids’ area in Designer Outlets’ first-floor food court, and the plastic top was printed with chessboards, a snakes-and-ladders game and the logos of giant fast-food corporations.
Robin’s head didn’t hurt much now, but his mind churned thoughts about his dad in custody, Little John’s whereabouts and Guy Gisborne’s massive whip.
The anxiety was unpleasant, and he tried to stop thinking about big issues and focus on here and now. He’d been lucky to run into decent people. He felt safe as he enjoyed mouthfuls of crusty garlic bread dunked in Karma’s pasta sauce.
‘This is really tasty,’ Robin told her.
‘You’re very welcome,’ Karma said, then to the other kids, ‘Isn’t it nice to get a compliment occasionally?’
‘I prefer your jerk chicken,’ Matt answered cheekily.
Marion’s youngest brother, Finn, was only two and a half. Robin thought it was cute how the toddler’s spaghetti kept sliding off his spoon, until he gave up and dug in with both hands.
But Marion’s family was never far from chaos. Matt and Otto started bickering because Otto was picking out his mushrooms and Matt took one off the table and dropped it down the back of Otto’s shirt.
Robin jumped out of his skin when Indio stood and roared, ‘Can we have one meal where you two behave?’
Otto moaned and started pulling off his T-shirt to get the mushroom out. Karma ran around the table and yanked him.
‘You sit up this end, next to me.’
‘Why have I got to move?’ Otto protested. ‘Matt put stuff down my shirt. He should be moving.’
‘Because you’re a stupid ginger squirt and I’m the greatest!’ Matt teased.
This made Otto tug himself free of Karma’s grasp and give Matt a two-handed shove out of his seat.
‘No, no, no, no, no!’ Indio shouted, pounding the table so hard she made the glasses rattle and Finn look scared.
‘So, this is my wonderful family,’ Marion told Robin, as she buried her face in her hands. ‘I assume you’ll be taking up my idea of staying upstairs in my auntie’s den …’
Robin smiled. ‘Could be good.’
He found the whole scene hilarious and it helped take his mind off his worries, but he also understood Marion’s frustration. You wouldn’t want this drama every time you ate.
Things calmed down once Otto had been manhandled into a new spot between his two mums. Marion gave Finn a cuddle because Indio losing her temper had spooked him, and she chopped his spaghetti, so it didn’t keep sliding off his spoon.
Will stuck his head through the blue tarp, said knock knock, then apologised for arriving during dinner.
‘Grab a bowl, I made heaps,’ Karma urged.
‘Thank you, but Sam is cooking for my family later,’ Will said, as he stepped up behind Robin and asked, ‘Are Karma and Indio looking after you?’
‘Sure,’ Robin said, with a full mouth and still smirking because of the chaos. ‘Good pasta, too.’
‘The mall is guarded, and we count visitors in and out,’ Will said. ‘You should be safe, but we have a huge area to protect. So don’t go wandering into obscure hallways, or exploring empty shops, OK?’
Robin nodded. ‘That makes sense.’
‘I made some calls to contacts in Locksley,’ Will said. ‘We tracked down your father. He’s under police guard at Locksley General.’
Robin let Bolognese drop off his spoon. ‘Hospital?’ he asked, as his anxiety came back. ‘Gisborne did ask the cops to rough him up …’
Will nodded. ‘They did a good job of it. Ardagh has broken fingers, a dislocated shoulder and a complex leg fracture. The nurse I spoke to said nothing is life-threatening, but he’s obviously in pain and it could be two months before he can walk again.’
Robin didn’t know what to say, but he imagined his dad scared and hurt, as Karma put her hand on his shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.
‘I also spoke to a lawyer named Tybalt Bull,’ Will continued. ‘He’s an old friend and one of the few people brave enough to take a stand against Gisborne in a Locksley courtroom. He’s interested in your dad’s case and he’d like to meet you.’
Robin didn’t know anything about courts and lawyers, and looked baffled.
‘I don’t know your family’s financial situation,’ Will continued. ‘Tybalt says legal defence for your father would cost at least ten thousand pounds.’
Robin mouthed ten thousand, then lifted one leg to show a split in the sole of his sneaker. ‘Do I look like my dad has ten thousand going spare?’
‘Maybe we can raise money,’ Indio suggested. ‘People will donate to help the kid who shot Gisborne in the …’
‘Balls!’ Otto yelled loudly.
Robin hated the fact that his family never had any money and changed the subject.
‘Any news of my brother?’
‘Not a lot,’ Will admitted. ‘A pal at the police records department confirmed that nobody called John Hood has been arrested. He must be out there somewhere. I just hope we can get hold of him before Gisborne does.’